Customer Reviews

Lucrezia Borgia: A Novel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Unfortunately, the writer cannot determine if this book was to be a farce, historical fiction, porno, or theater material. It fails miserably to be a good historical novel. Characters are all drawn the same, same dialogue from each. Smut for smut's sake. Very disappointing in so many aspects.

Please don't let this author write again without one!

The book is riddled with spelling and grammar errors (even my seventh-grade daughter knows that you don't seize a horse's "reigns"), but it's the anachronisms that really set my teeth on edge. I'm not an expert in 14th-century language, but I'm willing to bet that the words "spiffy" and "sappy" weren't in common use at that time. And how Lucrezia could refer to someone's utterance as a "malapropism" when the literary character on whose name the term is based didn't exist until the 1800s is beyond me.

What ultimately made this book unreadable for me, though, was the tortured prose. An example: "...these notions became an obsessive sequence of water buckets that I was throwing on my passion's wildfire." This isn't even necessarily the worst example-just the one that occurs on the page where I finally had to give up trying to wade through the book.

This book is an utter distortion of political and social realities of the late 15th century Italian States. It is poorly written and disappointingly researched. Case in point, Mr. Faunce has in improbable `honeymoon' sex scene between Lucrezia Borgia and her second husband Alfonso of Aragon, situated in the Villa Adriana at Tivoli. Unfortunately for Mr. Faunce, the Villa was sacked by the Barbarians of Totila in late antiquity and the excavation was not begun until 1501, several years after the wedding. The other instances of sheer mendacity are too numerous to list. The book is rife with other asinine inaccuracies that cannot be excused by literary license. It was supposed to be a work of historical fiction, not semi-historical fantasy. There were absolutely no redeeming features to this work.

As one who loves historical fiction, I thought this book would be fabulous (and I might learn something along the way). I also appreciate twisting history a bit to provide a different perspective. Unfortunately, I found this book disappointing on nearly all fronts. It tries too hard.

The overall premise of the story, history from a used Lucrezia's perspective, is interesting and kept me intrigued for about 1/2 of the book. The author's constant attempts at impressing the reader with his knowledge of obscure Greek and Roman allusions was tiresome, however. Mix this with supposed character dialouge conducted in 21st century tones, and you have a very confused book indeed! The sentences were often unnecessarily long and awkwardly constructed. The entire grammatical structure rendered the book tedious and annoying.

The substance could have saved this book, but it sadly didn't. I found myself wondering if the author were trying to imitate (and outdo!) Dan Brown in his theories about the Catholic Church. Interesting, but far fetched. The gratuitous sex and violence finally did the whole thing in. I was just tired of it all before it was even close to ending.

I readily admit that I prefer historical novels with more emphasis on the historical than the novel. However, as a novel it is a disappointment. The characters are flat and the book plain boring. Faunce throws in a little Greek and Latin and a few Dante quotes into the narrative but fails to make them at all relevant to the reader or the characters. Is he trying to play a scholar?

If you are looking for a history don't read this because Faunce does not use the very few facts available to us about Lucrezia but instead embellishes her notorious reputation. There is no doubt that many a sorrid rumor (some probably true, some probably not) circulated about Lucrezia during her lifetime. You would think Faunce would stick to these rumors but instead he has Lucrezia rolling around in her husband's blood while being [attacked] by her brother and enjoying it! Is Faunce describing his own fantasies? Is he writing a script for a play or a movie he wants to produce? Couldn't he have just stuck to the rumors as they were 500 years ago? They were certainly racy enough.

I hope someone with a genuine interest in both history and the portrayl of a colorful woman in the 16th century will eventually write a biography or an historical novel worthy of Lucrezia Borgia.

I can't believe I wasted money and time on this book. As soon as I realized how bad it was, it became a challenge to see how much worse it was going to be, and that's why I finished to the end.

When you write a historical fiction, you don't have to vouch for all the fictional parts you create, but at the minimum you do basic research to make sure that known historical facts are correct. The author did not even do that. This is gross intellectual sloth. For instance, he is describing Lucrezia making omelettes for her husband or characters talking about drinking coffee. Both food items in Europe were NOT known/discovered until much later. These are just minor items. Major known historical facts are terribly butchered in this book. Such as the background of her marriages and her brothers (Ceasare)'s various ventures.

There is no psychologically compelling description/analysis of characters and no attempt to imbue a level of complexity into the general ambiance and the psychological/historical realities of the time and the characters. After all, all the major characters are major historical figures, and some of them left a trail of facts that can be verified, and the author did not even bother to remain accurate.

All this, I can forgive, if the writing itself is tolerable. The writing is TERRIBLE. I don't mind vulgar writing if it has its own integrity in its vulgarity - writing can be absolutely, hilariously vulgar and achieve a level of brilliance in its own category. This author's writing should be characterized as insipid vulgarity, which no self respecting author should ever be accused of and still have the courage to call himself/herself as an author. How could anyone claim to be a published writer with such insipid writing is beyond me.

In short, this is a historical novel worthy of having been written by an air headed valley girl.

Not researched and awfully written.
Not really much more to say.
Blech.

I found this book to be very intellectually written. There are several, repeated references to Classical Literature and Art that I wouldn't have fully understood without the 4 Latin classes I had. And there are frequent sentences in Latin or Greek, usually translated but not always. In the beginning of the book, the author uses some of the most beautiful, interesting and original metaphors I've ever read: "I'd a vision of a colossal Cesare-an entire gold-leafed page in an illuminated manuscript-astride a lapis horizon, driving the hard, ink-black iron of his intellect into the palms of a prostrate and thorn-crowned world." So much of his descriptive paragraphs fit so well with the subject being discussed that it makes for an almost poetic feel. Also, he attempts to explain how some of the most horrible rumors about Lucrezia were not exactly true, but were understandable (particularly where her brother was involved) without turning her into this completely misunderstood saint whose enemies conspired to destroy for all history.

That's the highlights of the book. On the downside, in some sections, the action seemed somewhat rushed which makes the story a bit confusing. And towards the end, the language gets so graphic and unnecessarily vulgar that it's difficult to enjoy. Maybe Mr.Faunce did that intentionally to show the different frame of mind of young, idealistic Lucrezia and older, worldy Lucrezia. But regardless, I don't think it works well. The writing at the beginning is pretty; at the end, it's rather tasteless and trashy. And on occasion (but not often) his screenwriting seems to take over and the action becomes over-dramatized, as if some kind of B-rated action movie.

All in all, I'm glad I did read the book, if only for the beginning. I would recommend it unless you're offended by repeated profanites or if you're squeamish about gore.

I'm about half of the way through this and, although I find it historically interesting, it in no way takes me in. A pseudo-autobiographical novel about her life yet the phrases that are used throughout are certainly not phrases that one would expect from a 15th century woman. The language is today's language. This takes something away from the story but it doesn't kill it. I'll struggle through to the end because I can't put a book down if I don't finish it.

If I could give this book less than one star, I would, and gladly. I can't say enough about the vulgarity, lack of intelligence, or overdoing of discombobulated quotes shown in this book. I do not mind reading a book that takes a little license with a character, but the vulgarity and (this is a word I almost always shy away from) blasphemy used in this book are ridiculous! Even being a person who doesn't regularly attend church, the blasphemy of the main character imagining Jesus Christ in sexual acts, very explicitly, is something that entirely disgusts! The fact that this is the first book by a writer who is otherwise a screenwriter should have tipped me off, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and was proven wrong. This author needs to stick to bad screenplays, and readers need not waste their time with this horrifying example of bad writing.